A totally biased piece of nonsense, where ‘private affluence’ is bad and the ‘struggling poor’ are left with public-provided dregs.

Aid for private schools “crept” in. Note the slinking, evil connotation. This evil was not “resisted successfully”.

Only unworldly, impractical people would resist assistance to aiding choice in education. Nobody should be fooled into thinking that state schools are overlooked by the Federal Government. State schools receive money from the Federal Government, along with private schools. Although education is a state matter, State Governments do not provide a cent to private schools, just to their own monuments to failure.

While I have no time personally for religion, various religions provide low cost high quality education for parents eager to keep their children out of the self-destructing, union-riddled public system. Private schools, unlike the public, have hire and fire rights to deal with incompetent teachers – probably one of the reasons the duds are in the public system. And these duds are on not on “meagre salaries” as their apologist, Peter West, claims. West’s ridiculous opinions of teachers’ salaries – “A man can’t support a family on a teacher’s wage while his wife goes through pregnancy, childbirth and early child-rearing. The salary barely inches upwards each year and good teachers aren’t rewarded” - shows his lack of contact with reality, and is an insult to the number of low-paid workers struggling to send their kids to places of superior education with a little help from the Federal Government, and no help at all from State Governments.

This and the rest of West’s rant on what a Labor Government should or should not do is a complete waste of time. If he were not just another academic, totally out of touch with real life, he would know that, Labor or Coaltion, both are reactive by nature and will do only what the majority demands. West does not represent that majority

If you wonder how this country will fare under Mr Rudd's loving care, look no further than the state all the States are in right now.
Check the health,crime, education, transport, all run by the ALP.
And wonder no more. Our whole country can be as dysfunctional as the states. All you have to do is trust Kevin Rudd,Julia Gillard and Mr Swan.

Amen Mickijo.The problem of Public School Teaching is not one of money but of social philosophy.We lost the discipline,respect,the will to make it of our own backs and the nanny state relieved parents of the responsibility of rearing their own children.Just look at DOCS in NSW, they are part of the problem and will never acknowledge it.The money should be given to private charities.

Shock horror,we need more money for carers,teachers,pretend disabled,single mothers,unemployed you name it.There are no real consequences for poor behaviour or over self indulgence in our society,so the achievement bar gets lowered with each new generation.Labor will find a new latrine to excrete our hard earned tax dollars into and then we'll have to vote the Coalition back in to fix it again.And so the cycle goes on.

My kids are well and truly through with school and now have kids of their own.

But when all the Private Schools have been filled by children whose parents can find the fees, who then looks after the remaining children. Logically not everyone will go to a Private School and that means Public Schools must be viable to take whats left, if nothing else. If Public Schools are failing purely because of "Dud" teachers, then the answer is easy, but if Public Schools are only able to attract "Dud" teachers because these schools have to accept all students and cannot, like Private Schools, be picky about who can and cannot attend their hallowed learning establishments then the answer is not so easy.

"Only unworldly, impractical people would resist assistance to aiding choice in education. Nobody should be fooled into thinking that state schools are overlooked by the Federal Government. State schools receive money from the Federal Government, along with private schools. Although education is a state matter, State Governments do not provide a cent to private schools, just to their own monuments to failure."

The balance between Public and Private School funding has changed dramatically during the Howard years to a point where, like Hospitals, the chosen recipient of the governments largesse, in this case Private Schools, becomes by default the more attractive choice for parents.

Of course aspirational Australians want whatever is seen to be the best in all areas, car, house, coffee machine, and of course, childrens school.

Having said all that I believe that Private Schools probably do provide a better education because thay are able to provide an atmosphere free of all those annoying children that just don't have the class and breeding required in the society that John Howard lives in.

Ulysses

Oh nice one Arjay - obviously neither you nor those close to you have ever experienced the impact of sudden personal misfortune such as an industrial 'accident', severe sports injury or road trauma resulting in permanent, life-changing injuries. Or suddenly been made involuntarily 'redundant' after years of loyal service to an employer.

Maybe your turn to become a full-time (24/7/365) unpaid family caregiver of a totally dependent loved one with severe and profound 'disability' is yet to happen!

This thread is full of prejudice against public schools and public school teachers. There is no data on the comparable performance of private and public schools. Having had my child in 2 inner city public schools for the last 5 years I have not yet come across a "bad" teacher and I can name some absolutely fantastic teachers - teachers with an uncannny ability to spot and diagnose special needs in kindergarten children; teachers able to happily handle up to 36 children, including two with special needs, and get them all to learn.

Some people have clearly bought the Coalition government's rhetoric about "choice" in schooling. There is no choice in schooling if you don't have the money for private school fees, or happen to be an aetheist or belong to an obscure religion that doesn't run any private schools, or you have a child with a disability. I personally know of an autistic child's parents who were directed by their local Catholic school to place their child in the local public school instead as "they have the resources to deal with this and we don't" - ie the Catholic school didn''t want to deal with it, and public schools of necessity DO know how to deal with autism because they've had to. So much for choice.

As for the nanny state - well what a nanny state we will have with entrenched middle class welfare with subsidies now promised by the Coalition for private school fees! Meanwhile the roof of my public school's Victorian era heritage-listed after school care building leaks whenever it rains and sometimes the electrical wiring has shorted, threatening the food supplies in the fridge....Oh for some decent funding for public schools!